Fran's Chocolates - Seattle

Rated: ♣♣♣♣♣

Salted caramels are all the rage amongst chocolateers these days. And in my opinion, Fran’s Chocolates makes the creme de la creme.

I received a 3-tiered box of chocolates ($90) from my PR agency for Christmas and have been itching to have more ever since. I reluctantly shared the tier of the heavenly chocolates with the office but was able to sneak a box of the award-winning smoked and gray salted caramels home to share with the family.

The salted caramels are made of “rich smooth chocolate, soft buttery caramel and the unexpected boldness of the gray and smoked salt.” The mouthwatering, chewy goodness had me smiling at first bite… and the whole 5 minutes after the experience.

You can purchase a box of 20 gray and smoked salted caramels for $24 on Franschocolates.com. If that’s too pricy for you, you can try the salted caramels from Trader Joe’s. They’re completely different than Fran’s (hard shell filled with liquid caramel), but they’re good in its own way.

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Top Chinese Restaurants in the USA

Top100ChineseRestaurants.com released their 6th annual winners for the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the US. Take this list as you will. I, myself, am skeptical because Ana Mandara is in the Top 5. Last time I went to Ana Mandara, I paid $300 for a meal and left hungry. The food was nothing notable. And if I remember correctly, Ana Mandara is actually a Vietnamese/Asian Fusion restaurant, not Chinese.

Top 1
Ching’s Table
64 Main St. New Canaan, CT
Tel: 203-972-2830

Top 2
Wong’s King Seafood Restaurant
8733 SE Division St. Portland, OR
Tel: 503-788-8883

Top 3
Bo Ling’s
4800 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64112
Tel: 816-753-1718

Top 4
Mr. K’s Restaurant
570 Lexington Ave. New York, NY
Tel: 212-583-1668

Top 5
Ana Mandara
891 Beach St. San Francisco, CA
Tel: 415-771-6800

Top 6
Seafood Village
2424 Kalakaua Ave. #102, Honolulu, HI
Tel: 808-971-1818

Top 7
Happy Harbor Restaurant
1015 S Nogales St. #126, Rowland Heights, CA
Tel: 626-965-2020

Top 8
Chef Chu’s
1067 N San Antonio Rd. Los Altos, CA
Tel: 650-948-2696

Top 9
Lao Szechuan Restaurant
2172 S Archer Ave. Chicago, IL
Tel: 312-326-5040

Top 10
Zine Noodles & Dim Sum
3325 Las Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV
Tel: 702-607-2220

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Cako - San Francisco

Cako
Neighborhoods: Civic Center/Tenderloin, Union Square
211 O’farrell Street
(between Powell St & Cyril Magnin St)
San Francisco, CA 94102

Rated: ♣♣♣

Over the weekend, I drove by this neat little bakery with an impressive display of designer cupcakes in the window and I had to stop by to try one, or three. I was intrigued by the Andes mint cupcake they had at the window, but they were sold out for the day. With the interesting flavors they had to offer, I decided o get 1 lemon meringue, 1 smores and 1 chocolate raspberry.

Maybe because it was the end of the day, the cake wasn’t as moist as other cupcakes I’ve tried at other bakeries. I split each cupcake into fours and the cake just crumbled.

The cakes:

S’mores cupcake - I was very disappointed in the s’mores cupcake. The cupcake consisted of a chocolate cake with a graham cracker crust bottom and a marshmallow frosting. I give Cako credit for being original with the graham cracker lining at the bottom of the cake, but it just didn’t taste like a s’more to me. The frosting was actually crunchy as if the sugar didn’t get a chance to dissolve.

Chocolate Raspberry cupcake - Next I tried the chocolate raspberry cupcake. This cupcake was made from a chocolate cake with a raspberry frosting topped with shaved chocolate and a fresh raspberry. I’m a huge fan of the combination of chocolate and raspberry, so you can marry those two together in anything and I’d love it. The frosting was delish though. Not too sweet, and strong in the raspberry flavor.

Lemon Meringue - This one is the best cupcake out of the 3. The cupcake was made from a lemon batter with a generous amount of lemon zest, a lemon filling, and a meringue topping. The cake almost tasted like a lemon bar. The meringue was light and fluffy; a perfect match for the sweet cake.

All-in-all, Cako was a satisfactory cupcake shop. What really makes a great cupcake is the consistency of the cake. If it’s not moist, you don’t got it. I give Cako props for it’s originality though. I’d like to go back to try the Andes mint cupcake.

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Kobe Japanese Cuisine and Bar - Foster City

Kobe Japanese Cuisine and Bar
929 Edgewater Blvd
Foster City, CA 94404
(650) 571-879

Rated: ♣♣♣

Every Friday, I go out to eat with my coworkers. We pick a restaurant in the Peninsula, eat there, and rate it on a scale of one-to-5. This week, we had the opportunity to try out Kobe Japanese Cuisine and Bar in Foster City. It’s located in the same complex as some of my favorites such as Waterfront Pizza and Plaza Gourmet.
The scene:

I found this place to be perfect for a business lunch. Also, if they moved the tables, it would have been perfect for a party with a bar. The decor is trendy Japanese restaurant. Parking is super easy since this is within a shopping complex.
The food
Since this was my first time here, I decided to try something special from the menu. Kobe has bento boxes, sushi rolls, and noodles. What I found interesting was something that was called Hwe Deop Bap or Sashimi Salad over Rice with Special Spicy Sauce. When I was ordering it, the waitress mentioned that this was really good as long as I liked fresh fish. Wow! I was already getting pretty hyped up about it. When the dish came, it was literally a salad on top of rice. On top of the salad was 5 different types of fish, Tobiko, sliced red onions, pickled garlic, and sliced cucumber. I was told to mix the dish together and enjoy. So, I did that. I found that the sashimi salad was a bit bland and needed a little something. The waitress ran over and said, “Did I forget the sauce”? So, the sauce is the Korean Sour and Spicy Sauce that’s used in everything. Bottom line, the sauce rocked this dish like no other. I loved it! For $14, you get a salad, miso soup, and this dish.

Want to try making it for yourself? Make the Jump!
Read the rest of this entry »

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SO - San Francisco

SO
Neighborhood: SOMA
1010 Bryant St
(between 8th St & Converse St)
San Francisco, CA 94103

Rated: ♣♣♣♣♣

Note: I apologize for the bad photos. My camera died so I had to use my phone. I promise to update the images when I go back.

SO is back! You don’t know how excited I am to see SO back in business. If you don’t know, SO’s the sister restaurant to San Tung in San Francisco. It’s original location was on Irving, but it closed down several years ago. SO has since reopened and is now located in SOMA near the Nordstrom Rack.

I’ve always preferred SO’s over San Tung because a) they make the famous dried-fried chicken wings as well as other dried-fried items such as mushrooms and fish, b) price is cheaper (although, smaller portions), and c) the restaurant is less crowded (hoping it stays this way).

I was pleased to find SO had the same ambiance as the SO’s I used to know. The menu, prices, even the tea cups are the same!

The food:

Total came to $34.50 for 3 people.

SO Wings - Wings that were battered, fried, then drenched in a sweet and spicy chili garlic sauce.

SO Mushrooms - Button mushrooms with the same fixings as the SO Wings

Fried Tofu - Soft tofu that’s lightly fried and topped with bonito flakes (dried fish). The bonito flakes rise and descend with the steam as if they’re alive. I always get a kick out of that.

Dry Sauteed String Beans - Crunchy string beans served in the same chili garlic sauce as the SO wings.

SO Black Bean Noodles - Chewy noodles that’s tossed in a spicy black bean sauce with egg, pork, paprika and cayenne. LOVED the noodles, but be careful, this is very spicy. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember this being on the menu at the old location.

Parking:

Tons of parking options at this location. There’s a lot to the right of the building you can park in after 6pm or you can park on the street. I saw someone on Yelp even say you can park in the Nordstrom Rack/Trader Joe’s parking lot as well.

I’m just SO happy SO is back open. And, I SO hope you enjoyed too!

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